SSL fusion

insect · July 2, 2021, 10:13am

Everyone still happy with their SSL Fusion?

circuitghost · August 23, 2021, 4:31pm

Dealer just got one of these. ”You can borrow it”, he said. ”Take it for a spin. Let us know what you think.”

korpinen · August 23, 2021, 4:42pm

Sounds like a dealer alright!

circuitghost · August 23, 2021, 5:25pm

Haha, yep

“Place it on your main out from your SiX, or just run your Blackbox through it. See what happens.”

The bastards

hypertension · August 23, 2021, 7:25pm

I had a Fusion and an SSL Six, but I didn’t particularly rate them. I felt they were costly for what they offered. I’m sure others will love them, as they’re beautiful items to own. However, both units made me appreciate how good today’s plugins are - for a lot less money.

I sold the SSL’s and bought an RME Babyface Pro FS and spent the change on the top end plugins from Softube - so now I’m still skint.

However, if I were doing it all over again today, I’d get that UC-1. That looks like an excellent way to control that superb plugin.

cold_fashioned · August 23, 2021, 9:33pm

You know, it even shows up in the SSL SiX manual as the item on the master insert. Clearly, it has to be there. haha.

That aside, I do want to hear your thoughts. Mostly because I enjoy reading your reports.

JamesM · August 23, 2021, 10:59pm

Really interested in this.
Will the Blackbox output be too hot?

v00d00ppl · August 23, 2021, 11:09pm

If you run your samplers through high voltage analog processing you might want to start with -23dB on your master volume then do output gain on the fusion.

circuitghost · August 24, 2021, 4:05am

I’ll probably run the Fusion as an insert on the SiX and divide it over the three strips. A lot of it on the drums at ch1 and ch2, a little less of it on the textures, loops and ambience on ch 3 - 6. It’ll side with a CXM 1978 on the second insert.

circuitghost · August 24, 2021, 4:07am

circuitghost · August 27, 2021, 6:37pm

Well, I’ll say this about the Fusion - once you’ve heard it, you can’t unhear it.

v00d00ppl · August 28, 2021, 1:03am

Bro welcome to the world of Class A analogue audio.

JamesM · August 28, 2021, 4:06am

Shut up and take my kidneys

circuitghost · August 28, 2021, 5:15am

Worst part is, becomes apparent how shitty my source mixes are when run through this. But I’ve never been more motivated to get better now.

rareo · August 28, 2021, 6:30am

Maybe it’s been mentioned but, save yourself oodles of cash and use Acustica Celestial.

circuitghost · August 28, 2021, 7:16am

One needs computers and sound cards for such things, of which I have neither

circuitghost · August 28, 2021, 11:05am

I’m trying out a few different routing options here between the Fusion and the SiX now, and one thing I’m considering is to just place it on the master and not bother with inserts or similar. Currently, I run the Fusion on all six channels on the SiX, and while that’s neat, it’s not quite the effect I’m after. I really just want to process the final output through the Fusion.

With that in mind, would you place the Fusion before or after the SSL SiX g bus compressor? I asked a few engineering mates of mine and they got into a fight between each other on which option was the best, so I figured I’d ask you polite and civil folks here instead. One guy goes “But you wanna process the compressed output to get that funky vibe” and the other ones goes “but the compressor is a master, so it should be after the Fusion for that very reason.”

And I’m like, hoo-kay.

sl1200mk2 · August 28, 2021, 1:20pm

As always, the answer is ‘it depends’…

Generally, I’d place the Fusion before SiX, but it really comes down to the overall aesthetic you’re trying to give to the mix. The short answer is if you’re trying to accentuate and emphasize what the compressor is doing, then use the Fusion after compressor and EQ accordingly. If the goal is just subtle ‘glue and vibe’, then keep the Fusion before the compressor.

For example, if I’m using the bus compression to highlight parts of the mix, let’s say adding a little movement and emphasis to the high hats, then I’ll sometimes want to add a small amount of EQ to that same frequency range post compression to further showcase it. The high shelf of the Fusion would be terrific for that. I’m generally EQ’ing into compression, but with certain mixes the opposite really works well.

It’s not a 100% rule one way or the other though, so it’ll require some experimentation to see which you prefer most of the time. However, don’t be a afraid to change it up if you’re not quickly ‘feeling it’ for a given mix and swap the two.

circuitghost · August 28, 2021, 3:03pm

Thank you. Very good advice. I’m doing this set up now and I’m finding this is the vibe I’m after. Once it’s all glued together, it just makes a lot of sense to push it through the compressor and send the whole goddam thing out through the monitors.

Right now, I’m doing cue out from the SiX into external SiX inputs, and I’m sending it all to the channels where I want the Fusion for full effect. If I want just the Fusion sound, I just switch the mix to 100% external input, if I want to blend, I can do that (though I’ve found no reason why I would, yet) and if I want to hear it dry, I just turn off the external input and listen to the dry signal instead.

Not sure this is the right way to do it, but it does work

This f*****g box is bleedin’ amazing. The shit it’s doing to my tracks.

Kegeratorz · August 28, 2021, 3:54pm

I may have to mute this thread. Ha! I can’t wait to hear some examples!